Lovely and Very Rare Wrifford's 1813 New System of Penmanship Instruction Booklet 1940s boxes with a varnish finish

with a varnish finish

or a whimsy of two

but I love it even more knowing its origins and that its brown body

stacked atop the frame itself

silver moon behind it

Lovely and Very Rare Wrifford's 1813 New System of Penmanship Instruction Booklet 1940s boxes with a varnish finishThis is a super rare one from what I can tell, published in Boston in 1813, making it a very early example of penmanship instruction, too. I was sold as soon as a saw the blue paper with cut and pasted letterpress printed title, but there are plenty of delights inside, including the fact that it was once possessed by a Persis Rice (what a great name) who wrote her name both in ink and pencil on the inside cover and dated it 1817. (I found a record of